Mexico to tender $7.4 bln in passenger train projects in 2014

MEXICO CITY Oct 8 (Reuters) - Mexico's government will
tender three passenger train projects next year worth 97 billion
pesos ($7.4 billion), two of which will service the capital's
sprawling metropolitan area, the country's transport ministry
said on Tuesday.

Project details will be published ahead of the contract
tender in early 2014, the ministry said in a statement.

The new trains will connect the country's capital with the
cities of Toluca and Queretaro, in addition to a train
traversing tourist destinations along Mexico's southern Yucatan
peninsula.

The 47-mile route connecting Mexico City with Toluca,
capital of the state of Mexico, will cost $2.9 billion, while
the nearly 200-mile Yucatan route will cost $1.2 billion.

Both public and private funds will be used to build the
projects, the ministry said.

In July, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said he
expects to oversee $300 billion in spending on major
infrastructure projects aimed at beefing up the country's
economy during his six-year term.

Public and private investments in transportation and
communications infrastructure will reach nearly a third of that
total between 2013 and 2018, the president said.

Bombardier Inc, the world's biggest train
manufacturer, will likely bid on each of the rail projects, the
company's Mexico chief said in June.

Markus Mildner, executive vice president of Siemens Mexico
, has said the German industrial conglomerate, is also
interested in bidding on rail projects.

Mexican trains currently transport about 13 percent of
freight cargo, but only 1.2 percent of passengers, according to
government data. Cars and trucks, meanwhile, account for more
than half of freight and 96 percent of passengers.